Confidential Hart
by reilert79
Summary: Jennifer is researching a story that could have potential implications for Jonathan and Hart Industries.
1. Chapter 1

***Willow Pond***

Jennifer was at home, working on an article. She was deep in the research phase. Her article was on a company that was a front for a ponzi scheme. Jennifer was *this close* to discovering what exactly was going on inside the company.

She had decided she was going to go undercover and expose it herself.

She contacted her source to set it up. She had no idea who this person was, only that they worked there and they went by Charlie.

She and Charlie were communicating strictly by email.

She composed her email, and decided to get straight to the point.

"Charlie-

I have decided to come to the company and go undercover. I need you to help me out-are there any jobs available? It doesn't matter what the job is, I just need to get inside. Please call me-555-1624. Thanks, Louise".

She hit send and went back to the research. The name of the company was Kayser Incorporated, LLC. If her research and her source were correct, Kayser's CEO, David Blaylock was running a Ponzi scheme and promising returns on investments due to the stock cycles of the other companies that he owned that he couldn't possibly be able to make otherwise. Jennifer wanted to get inside, and get the evidence, and then bust him, while shining a light on the employees who were whistleblowing and willing to do the right thing.

The company is located in San Diego though, so she would have to spend the night there while she was undercover. She agonized about what to tell Jonathan though. He wasn't going to want her going alone and going undercover like this. But, she couldn't take him. Everyone would know who he was. She would just have to tell him she was going to a spa or a writer's conference.

She hated deceiving him, but she knew it would work out in the end.

She looked up writer's conferences in San Diego, and they just so happened to be having one the second part of the week that she was planning to be there, so she registered for it, and booked a room at a local spa for the first part of the week, and a hotel the second part.

Now, she wouldn't be lying to Jonathan. But she would be missing him like crazy, because being apart from him for 5 days was going to be hard. She decided to surprise him and book him a reservation for the spa part of her week so that he could join her.

Things had been so busy between them lately. They were like two ships passing in the night most nights. Jonathan was working hard on several deals and it kept him at the office late more nights during the week than not. For the past 3 nights, Jennifer had fallen asleep before he got home.

They were supposed to have a date night tonight and actually eat a meal together, but honestly, Jennifer didn't have her hopes up.

She called him at the office. She glanced at her watch, and saw that it was 1:45.

"Hi darling".

"Hi yourself…What do you want me to make us for dinner?"

"Whatever you are in the mood for is fine."

"How about chicken kebabs?"

"Sure. Is there something else you need from me?"

"Just to hear your voice".

"That's sweet". She could tell he was distracted.

"Jennifer, I'm busy- I have to go".

"Ok, no problem. I love-"

He hung up the phone.

She stared at it for a moment, and then slowly put it back in the cradle.

She got up and went to the kitchen and prepared the kebabs, and after they were marinating in the fridge, she went back to working on her article.

She had an email from Charlie.

"You cannot wait two weeks. You need to come now. I cannot get you a job, but I can get you community service status. So, come with a disguise and a fake name and you will need to fill out some paperwork. I will send it to you. When you get here, call my cell at 555-8789, and I will meet you at your hotel. You need to come now because I seriously think the SEC is about to get involved.-Charlie".

Jennifer called and changed her reservations to tomorrow through the next 5 days.

She worked on her article all afternoon. Around 5, she went and fired up the grill and grilled their kebabs. She figured Jonathan would be home around 6.

She waited and waited, but by 8 p.m., she knew their date night was over.

She ate alone, and then went upstairs and packed her things to go on the trip.

When he got home at 11, she was fast asleep.

***The next morning***

She slipped out of bed at 5 a.m. She quietly got ready and took her bags downstairs.

She had a quick breakfast and made him some coffee.

She left him a note.

"Jonathan-

Gone out of town for work. Be back in a few days. You can reach me at the Marriott in San Diego on Harbor Drive. Maybe some time apart will allow you to focus on your work even more. -J".

She left it under his keys on top of the piano.

She loaded the car and cried as she drove off. Deep down, she knew this was for the best. It didn't feel right because it just wasn't them. But, it was needed.

***Jonathan***

Jonathan woke up around 7, and realized she wasn't in the bed. It took him about an hour to realize that she wasn't even in the house. It wasn't like her to not tell him goodbye, but then again, he didn't really deserve it.

He had been working so hard because he was trying to get things squared away so that he could take time off and just spend it with her. In order to do that, though, he had to get these business deals squared away.

He and the board members were going back and forth about buying a company. Usually they agreed with him, but this time they kept pushing off the vote.

He decided to try and have all of this handled by the time she got back, so that they could go to the ranch for a couple weeks or the cabin. Hell, he would absolutely go wherever she wanted to go.

He had to figure out a way to tell her he wanted to take some time off. He didn't want her to worry about him, but he was just burned out and needed a sabbatical.

He thought about calling her, but he didn't want to disturb her. He decided to send her an email instead.

He went downstairs to the study and opened the laptop. Her email was still open.

Charlie had sent an email back to her titled "Meeting you".

He clicked on it, and saw that it was a short message.

"I will meet you at your hotel room tonight after dinner. We can have drinks if you want, just let me know. So excited to finally be able to show you all of it. Call me tonight when you check in. -Charlie".

Jonathan was intrigued. She hadn't told him about this at all, but then again…they hadn't exactly spent a lot of time together lately.

He left the house and headed to the office.

***Jennifer***

Jennifer stopped and shopped some on the way to San Diego. Check in time was 11, so she had some time to kill.

She stopped and got a gourmet coffee, and opened the sunroof and turned up her music.

She pulled up to the Marriott and checked in.

She went to her room and got settled.

She got out her travel laptop and opened her email. She called and left a message for Charlie that she would be in her room the rest of the day and to come by anytime.

She took a luxurious bubble bath, and ordered in room service.

She called Jonathan at the office.

"He's in a meeting, Mrs. Hart, and asked me to take a message."

"Ok Kelly. Can you just tell him I'm in my hotel room and give him this number? Thank you".

She hung up the phone.

She decided to keep herself busy researching and keep her mind off of Jonathan.

Around 4, there was a knock at the door.

She went and opened it. There stood a lovely young woman, about 10 years younger than Jennifer.

"Mrs. Hart?"

"Yes?"  
"Hi, I'm Charlie".

"Oh, hello! Please, please come in".

Charlie came in and sat down on the bed. Jennifer joined her.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare-It's just that we have been emailing this whole time, and I honestly thought that since your name is Charlie, I had been corresponding with a man."

"No harm done. My name is really Charlotte, but I was a tomboy as a kid and my grandpa shortened my name to Charlie".

"I see".

Charlie pulled out a bunch of files for Jennifer.

"Ok, so you can keep these. These are copies I made for you. These show that the CEO took in money from these people, and I highlighted their names. The people believe they are getting insurance from him. And then these are bank statements that show that he deposited the money from these people into his own account."

"Oh, perfect! Thank you!"

"How did you stumble on this story?"

"Well, Interestingly enough, I was in the beauty salon last week, and heard a lady talking about how her mother was taken in by a company. She paid faithfully on insurance for about 24 years and then when she needed it, they wouldn't honor it. So, when I got home, I decided to research them, and I called up one of my professional contacts, and asked if they knew anyone with ties to the company and they gave me your extension."

"Perfect. Well, hopefully your story will be what brings down the CEO".

"Who is the CEO?"

"Damon Westbridge. He inherited his father's business, and built it into this empire. All of his sons have high executive positions, and his wife is on the board. They all protect each other. Up till now, nobody has been able to infiltrate their tight circle".

"I see. Are all the family members in the office every day?"

"The wife isn't. But she comes to all the board meetings. His sons, Maddox, Preston, and Zeke are there every day and run things in the dad's absence. Damon is there every day but Friday, typically".

"So, what do you do there?"

"Well….I am in payroll. But I have another connection as well".

"What's that?"

"Preston Westbridge is my ex-husband".

"Oh my. That complicates things, I am sure".

"Yes, it does. That's why I was willing to meet you and give you the evidence but I wasn't willing to just come out and speak up".

"I understand that completely. Now, I promise you that I will keep your name out of the article. And I never print anything unfavorable or inaccurate about the subject of anything I write. And in this case, the family won't be the subject. The subject will be the other employees who are trying to help the victims."

"Perfect! We have made some plans, so as soon as the SEC shuts down the business, we will take our contact sheet with the victims names and numbers on it, and contact them. We are going to have a silent auction and cocktail party, we are going to have a few benefits and we are basically going to do whatever we can to pay back what they lost because by the time this all goes through the courts, it will be years before they see a dime."

"That's so great that you guys are going to help them out. That part will definitely be the focus of my article".

They chatted some more and went over all the evidence, and then Charlie left.

"Thank you so much!"

"Oh, and I decided that it would be better if you didn't come volunteer. We don't want the family to see you and get suspicious. So, if you want to volunteer with this, then maybe you could volunteer for one of the benefits?"

"Absolutely".

"I will get you more evidence, until the SEC gets involved."

"I tell you what. This is my home address. Mail everything you have to this address. I work from home most of the time anyways."

Jennifer wrote down the address and handed it to her.

"Perfect. I will send you whatever I can find before the SEC raid. I am confident that someone is calling them by the end of next week."

"Thank you so much for coming and helping me with this, I really appreciate it".

"Thank you for exposing it and spotlighting what we are doing for the victims".

Jennifer gave her a slight hug and then Charlie left. Jennifer ordered room service and then sat down on the bed and called Jonathan.

***Willow Pond***

Jonathan had just come in and changed clothes. He grabbed something to eat while he was downstairs and took it upstairs. He was changing clothes in the bathroom when the bedroom phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi darling".

"Hi. Where are you?"

"At the hotel in San Diego".

"Get a nice room?"

"It's ok. It's lonely without you". 'Just like our house has been the past few weeks', Jennifer thought.

"How long do you think you will be there?"

"Not long. My source for the story has really come through, so I think I might be able to shorten my trip."

"What is your story about?"

"I can't say just yet…but it's going to be big".

"Is that all you are doing in San Diego, working on a story?"

"Yes, what do you mean?"  
"Your friend, what's his name, Charlie was it, left a message for you stating that he couldn't wait to meet you at your hotel".

"Jonathan-"

"What exactly will you two be doing at your hotel?"

"Jonathan-"

"There's more to this "working on a story" bit, isn't there?"

"Jonathan-"

Just then there was a very loud knock on the door.

"Hang on, someone's at my door."

She went to get it. It was room service. She had put the phone down, and Jonathan could hear a male voice.

"Thank you so much, and here's a little something for you".

"Thank you very much".

Jennifer came back to the phone.

"Ok I'm back".

"I would hate to keep you from your precious Charlie".

"Jonathan, I don't like the tone you are taking or what you are accusing me of. This isn't like you. I don't know what is going on with you, but something sure the hell is. I have never given you a reason to be suspicious of me before, and I am sure not going to start now. I'll have you know that the person at the door was room service with my dinner. I will be home in a few days, and maybe, just maybe, you will be back to your old self by then. And for what it's worth, I love you".

She hung up the phone. She felt the tears in her eyes and tried to stop them, but lost. She turned on the TV for company, and ate her dinner, and then changed and got ready for bed.

***The next morning***

Jennifer woke up around 7 and couldn't go back to sleep. She wanted so badly to call Jonathan and apologize, but for what? She hated it when they fought, and she just wanted to make peace with him. But this time, he was jumping to conclusions without knowing the real story, and without even asking her what was going on. She decided not to call him, on the off chance that they would argue again and it would put her in a bad mood.

She opened up her travel laptop and sent him an email instead.

It simply contained one sentence.

"I love you".

She hoped he read it and that it was all he needed.

***Jonathan***

Jonathan woke up and showered and headed for the office. He stopped and picked up breakfast, and was there pretty early.

He had slept fitfully, as he always did when he and Jennifer had a disagreement.

He hated fighting with her, and he hated being distracted by work to the point where they didn't talk, but sometimes things couldn't be helped. He opened up his laptop, and began pulling up work documents that he needed to go over before his meeting. His computer dinged, indicating that he had a new email. He opened it and saw that it was from Jennifer.

He read it, and responded right away.

"I love you too. Can we try again with another phone call tonight?"

He hit send and then printed the documents.

Shortly around 10, he stepped into his meeting.

***Jennifer***

Jennifer worked on her article all morning, and around lunch time, she realized she was having a hard time concentrating. She was restless. She needed to hear his voice. She wished like hell he had come to San Diego with her, but she knew if he was like his old self, she wouldn't have gotten much writing done. If he wasn't, they would have both been miserable.

She picked up the phone and called his office.

"Hi Kelly. Can I speak to Jonathan please?"

"Hi Mrs. Hart. He just stepped into a meeting. Would you like me to go get him?"

"No, that's alright. I tell you what, do you know what time his meeting will be over? I can call him back".

"Let me see. He will be meeting with Kayser Incorporated till 1, and then-"

"I'm sorry. Did you say Kayser Incorporated?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Ok. Can you just tell him that I called and have him call me?"

"I certainly will, Mrs. Hart".

Jennifer hung up the phone and stared straight ahead in disbelief.


	2. Chapter 2

***Chapter 2***

***San Diego***

Jennifer left the hotel and took a short walk to clear her head. Surely, Jonathan wouldn't be trying to do business with the same company she was researching for being corrupt. There had to be another Kayser Incorporated. There just had to be. This would be a misunderstanding and they would straighten it out and she would go home and they would talk and things would be fine.

Except she knew the truth.

There wasn't another Kayser Incorporated. There was only one, and Jonathan was about to do business with them, and they were corrupt. She had evidence that they were corrupt. Only she had to protect Charlie. She couldn't tell Jonathan about the evidence. And she would never tell him not to do business with someone, that wasn't her place. But if he did do business with them, and they got raided by the SEC, or worse, shut down, it would affect Jonathan too.

She stopped at a café and grabbed lunch and took it back to her room.

No messages from Jonathan.

After she did as much work on her article as she could, she took a bubble bath, and then took herself to dinner and then came back to the room.

She called the house at 9, and got no answer.

Frustrated, she fell asleep.

***The next day***

Jennifer got up and checked out of the hotel. She left Jonathan a message with Kelly that she would be at a spa for 2 days and then she would head home, and left him the number.

She checked into the spa and settled into her room.

The spa had a strict no electronics rule, so she wouldn't be able to use her laptop or phone at all. She picked out her services and decided on massages, facials, and a body wrap, along with a mud bath.

She went downstairs and checked in for her detox bath, and complimentary body scrub. It was going to be amazing to decompress for a few days.

***Jonathan***

Jonathan was at the office and saw Kelly's message. He called the spa and asked to speak to her.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hart has requested that she not be disturbed.".

He felt a knot in the pit of his stomach and hung up the phone. She was still mad.

He hated it when she was mad at him, and normally he would move mountains to fix it.

He called the spa back.

"Hello, yes I would love to send my wife some flowers while she is there, can I please have the address?"

"I'm sorry sir, we don't accept deliveries here for our clients. Have a good day".

The phone line went dead. Jonathan turned around from his desk and stared out the window.

***2 days later***

Jennifer was so relaxed. She had been massaged, scrubbed, wrapped, bathed in mud and had enjoyed the best facial she had had in years. She had even bought most of the products that they had used on her, in hopes that she and Jonathan could use them on each other. She bought a book of massage techniques as well. She was excited to go home and see him, and hoped that he would be just as welcoming to her. It had been a long few weeks.

She packed her things and checked out and headed home.

***Jonathan***

Jonathan woke up and wanted to call Jennifer again. But, he knew the spa wouldn't let him talk to her. He tried her car phone. No answer.

He resolved that he would try again later. He was determined that he would be home to have dinner with her.

He went downstairs to the study to grab some things. He saw that the light on the answering machine was blinking, so he pressed it.

There was one message, from a man's voice.

"Hello, Jennifer. This is Charlie. I just wanted you to know that you will be getting a special delivery very soon. Thank you".

Jonathan was again upset. He now had more questions to ask Jennifer, and he was reconsidering dinner with her.

He headed to the office.

***Jennifer***

Jennifer arrived home, and went upstairs to shower. She ordered dinner for them from La Scala, and had it delivered. She called his office. Kelly put her through.

"Hi darling. I just wanted to tell you that I am home, and I ordered dinner for us. What time do you think you will be home?"

"I have no idea. I will just see you whenever I get home".

"Jonathan, don't be like this".

"Be like what?"

"Difficult. Unreachable. Distant".

"I have to go."

He hung up.

She hung up the phone feeling dejected. She went to the kitchen, and put their dinner in the fridge, and headed upstairs to their bedroom.

By the time he got home at 11, she was fast asleep.

***The next morning***

He woke up without waking her up, and hadn't touched her all night. She woke up while he was in the shower and went downstairs and made coffee.

She was in the kitchen when he came in. He reached past her and got a cup of coffee.

"Have a good trip?"

"As good as could be expected".

"Oh, did Charlie not live up to your expectations?"

She was shocked.

"Jonathan, I am not doing this with you".

"What else is new?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you haven't wanted to do anything with me in weeks".

"I beg your pardon. You are the one shutting me out. You are the one not coming home at a regular hour and telling your secretary that you don't want to be disturbed when I call. You are the one accusing me of something you know I would never do to you or anyone else. If anyone here is not wanting anything to do with the other one, it's you to me, not me to you".

"What do you expect me to think when you have guys named Charlie leaving you messages that there will be special deliveries for you soon?"

"I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about, and to be perfectly honest, I don't care. You aren't talking to me, you are talking at me. You aren't acting like yourself, you have changed into someone I barely recognize."

"And you think running off to San Diego is the answer?"

"That's not why I ran off, but it sure was a lot more fun than being here with you, hurling accusations at me, and staying at the office all night".

"Everything I do is for you, did you forget that?"

"How could I know that, you won't talk to me anymore?"

"Why would I want to talk to you when all you do is nag me about why I worked late?"

"Nagging you? Seriously? That's what you call a conversation with me, nagging?"

She turned away and left the room in tears. He heard the bedroom door slam shut. He wanted to go after her but he was too prideful. This wasn't like either of them, but he didn't know how to fix it. And he was scared to admit that he didn't know what to do.

He decided they could both use some time to cool off, so he headed to work without another word.

***Jennifer***

Jennifer stormed up the stairs and got in the shower. She stood there and just let the hot water run over her as she tried to collect her thoughts.

Normally when they had a disagreement, she could justify everything and rationalize it and figure it out. And then she would get this sense of peace that would come over her, that would tell her that they were going to be just fine.

Today, all she felt was sadness.

***Later that day***

It was around 2 p.m. Jonathan was at the office, about to go into a final meeting with the Kayser folks. If this deal went through, they would be 50/50 partners on a new financial venture, to be called HartKayser Financial.

He felt horrible about his fight with Jennifer. He knew they would have to really talk that night when he got home, if she would even let him talk to her. He didn't understand how they got here. Usually, she wouldn't go to sleep unless he was home. And if she fell asleep before he got home, she would wake up when he got in bed. But lately, it's like they didn't even notice the other was around.

He called his florist, and asked them to rush a delivery of their biggest bouquet in pinks and baby blues, Jennifer's favorite colors, to the house.

"Put on the card 'I love you and I'm sorry and I believe you- love always Jonathan, Hart to Hart'. Thank you so much".

Flowers would be a good start. Champagne and her favorite dinner would be better. If they could talk things out, that would be ideal.

He had to go to his meeting, and he hoped that he would be able to leave right after and go home to her.

***Willow Pond***

Jennifer was working in the study when she heard the gate buzzer.

"Delivery for Mrs. Hart".

"Come on up".

She met them at the door, and saw that it was flowers.

They were gorgeous flowers, all her favorites. Bells of Ireland, pink roses, tulips, stargazer lilies, orchids and gladiolus, plus a few blue tulips and orchids and daisies as well. She tipped the guy and then shut the door and set the flowers on the piano.

She dug in there for the card and read it. Her heart softened a little. It was a start.

He wasn't totally out of the dog house though. They were going to have to have a long talk in order to resolve things this time. She was deeply hurt.

She went back to the study, and heard the gate buzzer again.

"Delivery for Jennifer Hart".

"Come on up".

She met them at the door, and this time it was an older gentleman.

"Hi, can I help you?"

"Hi, my name is Jason. I am Charlie's father, and she asked me to bring this to you. She also wanted me to give you this, and explain to you that she had me leave the message on your answering machine just so that there really wouldn't be a trail that led back to her".

"I understand. Thank you so much for helping".

He handed her the package with the documents and a note that said "SEC was called today, raid should take place sometime tomorrow".

Just then Jonathan pulled up.

He got out and headed towards the door.

"Hi darling".

"Hi. Jonathan, this is-". She turned and looked at Jason.

"Charlie. My name is Charlie. Nice to meet you".

Jonathan shook his hand, glared at Jennifer and then got in the car and left.


	3. Chapter 3

***Chapter 3***

***The next morning***

Jonathan went to the beach house. Jennifer didn't go after him.

She thanked Jason, apologized for her husband's rudeness and shut the door after him.

She enjoyed a quiet evening at home, and even though she was upset that they had fought, she was thankful for a night of peace and quiet.

She was a little sad when she went to bed without him, but it was what it was. She briefly wondered if she should go to the beach house and try to work things out.

He was the one who left her, he was the one who ran off. He knew where to find her, if he wanted to talk to her.

She turned out the light and fell asleep.

***The next morning***

Jennifer was woken up by the phone ringing. She sleepily answered it.

"Hello?"

"Good Morning, Mrs. Hart. Mr. Hart is requesting that you attend the board meeting today, at Hart Industries at 11:30. He says you may have to be the deciding vote".

"Tell him I will be there. Is that all he wanted?"

"Yes, that's it".

"Thank you, Kelly".

They hung up. She went downstairs and made herself some coffee and breakfast and then went to shower and get ready.

She was in the shower when the idea hit her. He may have fallen out of love with her, but she could still show him what he was missing.

She got out of the shower and dried off, and went to her closet. She searched in her closet till she found the dress. This was dress was the one dress she had that drove him wild every single time.

It was a ¾ length sleeve scoop neck dark red sweater dress that hugged her in all the right places. She paired it with her knee length stiletto boots, and gold jewelry.

She packed him a bag of clothes and things, and put it in the car.

She headed to the office around 10:45.

***Hart Industries***

She parked next to him in the parking lot, and put his bag in his front seat.

She went up to his office, and walked in.

"Hi".

"That's all you have to say?"

"Do you really want to do this here?"

"Better here than not at all".

"You are the one who called me to come to the meeting Jonathan. I can easily turn around and head back home".

"I did ask you to come to the meeting. I also asked you to be honest with me".

"When haven't I been?"

"Like I said, I don't want to do this here".

"Jonathan, I can't figure you out. You aren't the man I married. I don't know what is going on with you, but you better fix it, before I walk away from you for good. I won't live like this. One minute you are sweet and loving, the next you are accusing me of cheating. Then you send me flowers, but stalk off in a huff and don't come home. You ask me to come here but then you pick a fight the second I walk in. Maybe we should make things legal and separate and figure out what it is we both want before this goes too far".

She turned around and headed to the conference room.

She sat down at the table and started to go over the documents. At every board meeting, each member of the board received a packet with the documents for them to review so that they would know what they were voting on. On the first page was always a list of those people who would be in attendance. She noticed that most of the Kayser family would be there.

She looked over the documents and was almost finished when Jonathan came in the room.

She got up out of his chair and went and sat in her usual spot, over in the corner.

"You don't have to do that".

"It's important to keep up appearances, is it not?"

Before he could answer, the room started filling up.

He called the meeting to order and laid out the agenda. He called in the members of the Kayser family and introduced him. Jennifer and Charlie locked eyes across the room.

Finally, Jonathan put it to a vote. There were 12 members on the board, and the vote was split 6-6. Just as Jonathan had predicted, they needed Jennifer to decide.

"Darling…we need you to be the tiebreaker."

It was board policy that those for the vote and those against it would get one final chance to sway the tiebreaker. Jennifer listened to their speeches and then looked at Jonathan.

"Ok, it's 6 for, 6 against. How do you vote?"

She thought for a moment and then looked back at Jonathan.

"I vote no".

His face fell.

"Well, that's it. Meeting adjourned". He apologized to the Kayser's and promised to have the board do more research so that they could revisit this issue again in the future.

Jennifer got up and headed to his office. Charlie followed her.

Jennifer shut the door behind her.

"Thank you, Jennifer. I called the SEC, and they are raiding the offices tonight, as soon as we get back".

"Good call, but I didn't vote no for you, I voted no for my husband. Only he isn't going to see it that way".

"What do you mean?"

"I did it because if you guys get raided, we could be affected. He has worked his entire life for this. I was trying to protect him. But he will see it as a me not having faith in him".

"I understand. Well, hopefully when the article comes out, he will realize."

"I hope so. And thanks for the documents you sent yesterday. They helped me out a lot. And your dad is just so cute".

"Yeah, he is, isn't he? Well, I better get back to my family. I had told them I was going to the ladie's room".

Just then, Jonathan stormed in.

"What the hell was that?"

"Jonathan-"

"You had one job, Jennifer. That was to back me up".

"Jonathan-"

"You couldn't do it, though, could you? You just had to go against me because you wanted to get back at me for yesterday".

"Jonathan- this is Charlie. Charlie, this is my husband, the eloquent Jonathan Hart".

"Nice to meet you. See you later, Jennifer".

Charlie left the office. Jennifer turned to Jonathan.

"I packed you a bag, and put it in the front seat of your car. Now that the meeting is adjourned, I am going home. And you, well you can go fly a kite".

She left and headed to the elevator.

He was suddenly overcome with memories of their second date, when she told him to go fly a kite, and he took her seriously.

He sighed, and then gathered his things and headed to the beach house.

***Willow Pond***

Jennifer came in and locked the door behind her. She went upstairs and changed. After she was done, she came back downstairs and made herself something to eat. She didn't feel like doing much of anything. She decided to go sit on the patio, and have a glass of wine.

She went outside and sat on the swing, and stared at the sky for a long time.

In her mind, she was deciding how things would go. She would give Jonathan Willow Pond, and she would take the beach house. She didn't care about the company or his money, she knew she could take care of herself. Truth be told, if she didn't have him, nothing else mattered.

She tried to figure out what had gone wrong. She remembered the days when they could barely keep their hands off each other. She couldn't remember ever feeling this way before. She hated it, and wanted to fix it, but he had hurt her this time, and he needed to make the first move.

She thought back to what her father used to say. "There are no less than seven steps in the pursuit of love". Well, he was going to be the one taking seven steps here.

***Beach house***

Jonathan had come in and poured himself a very stiff drink. After he drank that, he had poured another. He was sitting on the terrace.

He knew that if he just went to talk to her, they could maybe come to an understanding on why some of these things had happened. However, would they be able to save their marriage? If not, it was 1000% his fault, and not hers. He would take total responsibility. All she had done was love him, and she loved him so much she cracked him.

If she wanted a divorce, he would give it to her. He would give her everything they had…none of it mattered without her. He would sell the company, she could have the big house, he would take the beach house, they could sell the cabin and the ranch…all of it. He had built this life for them, he could build another one for himself if he wanted to. As long as she was taken care of, that's all that mattered.

He figured he would give her some space, and call her tomorrow, and hopefully, she would agree to come to dinner.

If she came to dinner, they could just talk about things. If they talked about things, maybe, she would forgive him.

His whole life hinged on a lot of maybes.

***The next day***

Jennifer was up early, and left the house by 9. She ran a few errands and then stopped by their lawyer's office. She had him draw up papers for legal separation, and she requested that she be allowed to put a note on top to Jonathan.

She wrote:

"I love you, you know that. Or at least, you used to. I really hope we can use this time to work things out instead of throwing everything away. -J".

They assured her that the courier would be there within the hour to pick the papers up and deliver them to Jonathan.

"Thank you".

She went to the grocery store, and stocked up on Jonathan's favorite things and took them to the beach house before she took the rest of the groceries home to Willow Pond.

She left him a note that she had stocked the fridge for him.

She was sitting on the couch at Willow Pond when the phone rang.

She picked it up.

"Hello?"

"I love you".

She smiled a little.

"I love you too".

"Can we have dinner tonight?"

"I don't want to argue, Jonathan".

"I don't either. And I don't want to be legally separated from you".

"Well.."

"Dinner. I will bring it, you won't have to do anything".

"Fine. But Jonathan-no tricks. We need to really talk".

"I agree". There was an awkward silence, and then he spoke again.

"Willow Pond, 6 p.m.?"

"Sure. I will be here".

"See you then. I love you".

She blew him a kiss and then hung up the phone.

She wasn't sure how she felt about this, but she owed it to him to try. If it went bad, she could just ask him to leave, or she could leave. Nobody was going to force her to fight with him.

She turned on the TV and went to make herself a drink.

"Breaking news, the SEC has raided the offices of Kayser Incorporated. Officials were seen taking boxes of documents from the offices. However, it is unknown at this time what caused them to raid the offices."

She was more confident than ever in her decision to vote no. She just hoped she could convince him that it was a smart move. She hoped that he would see that she did it for him, not against him.

She thought back to when they met, in London. It had been a whirlwind 24 hours, with them trying to figure out who was shooting at them and her trying to convince him she wasn't a murderer.

She was so mad at him when he had her arrested, and then again when he had her brought to him from the airport. She was so used to guys running away from her, that she hadn't bothered to see this one running towards her. Once she figured it out, she was all in. He was the only man in her life from that day on. That hadn't changed, even if he thought it had.

She looked at the clock. 4 p.m.

Her life would either be the turning of the page, or the end of a book and the beginning of a new one. She would find out at 6.


	4. Chapter 4

***Chapter 4***

***Willow Pond***

Jennifer had fallen asleep on the couch. She was so wiped out that she hadn't heard Jonathan come in the front door. He found her on the couch, and covered her with a blanket and then put her feet over his lap and grabbed her hand and just held it.

He sat there looking at her for about 20 minutes, until she woke up.

She saw him and sat up some.

"Hi. How long have you been here?"

"About 20 minutes. You were sound asleep".

"I'm sorry. I haven't been sleeping very well".

"Neither have I".

He was absent mindedly giving her a foot rub. She noticed but she decided to let him continue.

"Jonathan, I hope you know I didn't vote against you to hurt you".

"I don't think you did it to hurt me. I think you did it out of spite".

"That's not it either".

"Then explain it to me".

"Ok, but only if you are really going to listen".

She got up and went to the study and got the documents, and then came back to the couch.

She got settled again and put her feet across his lap again, and noticed that he had refilled her cocktail.

"Thank you".

She started from the beginning.

"I am doing this article that someone emailed me about. The first email was just stating that there was a company that was fleecing its customers and the employees who worked there were planning on exposing the fraud of their CEO, and then raising money for the victims. So, I started investigating. And it turns out the company in question was Kayser Incorporated".

"That's ridiculous".

She continued.

"So, I called a friend from college who works in finance. She put me in touch with someone who works there, and that person became my lifeline as far as exposing all of this. That person was Charlotte, or Charlie, that you met yesterday in your office. She has been sending me all kinds of documents. She is the ex-wife of one of the sons, and the CEO is her son's grandfather. She confirmed to me yesterday in your office that she is the one who called the CEO. When I left here to go to San Diego, the original plan was that I was going to tour the offices and she was going to get me a job there, but then she said that would be too risky. So, she copied these documents and brought them to me at my hotel, and then she said she would mail me the rest. But she thought better of using the mail, so she sent her dad, Jason, to pretend to be Charlie, and he delivered the documents to me. And this afternoon, I had the news on, and they said the SEC whom she called yesterday, was raiding their office and removing tons of documents. If you look at this file, the CEO of Kayser and his sons, are taking money from their clients in exchange for insurance, and putting it into their personal accounts. If you look at this file, it's statements from other clients who tried to use their insurance that they had paid for in good faith, and were denied coverage. And this file, is the employee handbook. She highlighted in there where they were told to deny every claim. So, I didn't vote no out of spite and I didn't vote no because I wanted to hurt you, I voted no because I was trying to protect you from losing the company".

"Then why did you refuse my calls at the spa?"

"I didn't refuse your calls. I was never told that you did call".

"I called and they said that you had asked that you not be disturbed".

"They have a no electronics rule, and don't allow phone calls, or any electronics to be used. I never told them I didn't want to be disturbed but they wouldn't have disturbed me anyways".

He nodded.

"While we are asking questions, why haven't you been coming home at a decent hour?"

"Because I have been working late trying to get this deal going, so that maybe after it was over, I could take some time off and not feel bad about it. It was supposed to be a surprise".

She swung her feet off him, and leaned forward and grabbed her cocktail.

After she took a drink, she sat upright on the couch, a little closer to him.

"Did you bring dinner?"

"I thought we could have it delivered".

"Well, are we going to order it?"

"What do you want?"

"You pick."

"Whatever you want is fine".

"No, seriously, you pick. I don't want to nag you about it".

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean it".

He kissed the top of her forehead.

"I think we have both done and said some things in the past few weeks that we shouldn't have. I hate that we got to this point, we are better than that".

"I agree".

She took another sip of her cocktail.

"So, I guess we should talk about who gets what".

"No".

"No? That's why you came over here, is it not?"

"Jennifer, I am not doing that".

"Jonathan, you have nothing to worry about. I am willing to give you everything, but the beach house".

"Jennifer, is that all you know how to do, walk away? Seems like every time we fight, you file papers. I don't want any of this unless you are with me".

"Jonathan…." She dropped her tone. "We can't keep doing this to each other".

"I agree".

"I only file the papers because I want to make you happy".

"You make me happy. We used to make each other happy".

"So, what are we going to do?"

He opened his arms and pulled her close for an embrace.

He rubbed his hands up and down her back.

"I'm sorry for being a jackass. You mean more to me than anything, and if I don't have you, I have nothing at all. I love you so much, babe."

"I love you too. And you weren't a jackass, you were just distant."

"I'm sorry".

She sat up and looked at him.

"Did you really think I was cheating on you?"

"No, I didn't. I only said that so that you would tell me what was going on, I was too prideful to ask you".

He could see that she had tears in her eyes. He leaned forward and tenderly kissed her.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything".

"Why did you stay with me when I was being so horrible to you?"

"Jonathan…what would I have done?"

"Most women would leave and find someone else".

"I am not most women. I would rather fight with you than sleep with someone else. I love you, don't you know that?"

"I do know that. And I believe it. It's just, that I get so wrapped up in trying to give you a good life that I get frustrated when I feel like nobody else sees that".

"Jonathan, you already give me a good life. You don't have to prove anything else to me, or anyone else for that matter".

"I just don't want you to ever want for anything".

"Well, these past few weeks, I did want for something. I wanted for you. The rest is just details, you are what matters to me".

"I don't deserve you. You are kind and empathetic to a fault, you know that?"

"And I don't deserve you, but I am so glad you are mine. That is, if you still want to be".

He grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her passionately.

She returned the kiss in kind, and wrapped her arms around his neck. After they both came up for air, she looked him deep in the eyes.

"I'm sorry darling. How about we call a truce?"

"I'm sorry too. Forgive me?"

She nodded.

"I just couldn't let you buy that company, I hope you understand that".

"I do understand it. I just wish you had told me, but I didn't exactly make talking to me easy, did I?"

"Nope. After you rejected me, I knew that I wouldn't be able to talk to you before the meeting. So, I just went to the boardroom".

"What do you mean I rejected you?"

"The outfit I was wearing is the one that you always say makes me irresistible. And you didn't even so much as nibble".

"Babe, every single outfit you own makes you irresistible, darling."

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do."

She snuggled up against his chest.

"Darling, why did you tell me to go fly a kite?"

"Because, when you didn't find me irresistible, it hurt my feelings. So, I wanted you to remember our second date when I told you that, and I thought maybe it would rekindle some feelings".

"Ahh… very clever".

"Darling… I know that I don't say it enough, but I appreciate everything you do for me, for us. I love our life and I wouldn't want to spend it with anyone else. You are everything I ever wanted and then some".

"Darling…you don't say that to me, you show it to me. And I feel the same way about you. You and Max, you two were all the family I ever needed. You are the best thing that happened to me, aside from finding Max, and you are the reason that I do everything I do, to make your life better. You make my life better just by being in it".

He kissed her.

They both sat there and thought about Max for a minute.

"Hey Max".

"Miss you Max".

Things weren't the same without him.

She stood up and sat in his lap.

As she ran her fingers through his hair, she looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Darling, do you think he's watching down on us?"

"If he is, he's about to get one hell of a show". He started kissing her neck.

"Jonathan! Be serious".

"I think he spends his days watching out for us, playing poker with the greats, and attending the best horse races there ever could be".

She nodded in agreement.

"So, I think we have resolved everything except one problem".

"What's that?"

"We never decided on dinner".

"How about we have dessert first?"

"Oh, that's a great idea".

He kissed her passionately and then picked her up and carried her upstairs.


End file.
